220 FALCONRY. 



their falcons," I trust I may not (to use an expression of the editor of ' The 

 Ibis,' n. s.) be considered too much of a psittacophiUte if I give Miss Strick- 

 land's account of what was then a rare bird (' Queens of Scotland,' vol. i. 

 p. 175, edit. 1840) : — " Sir David Lindsay took charge of it, with other 

 animal dependents of his young monarch ; and the creature was an especial 

 favourite. Indeed she did not rely on the mere possession of what Sir David 

 calls 'her angel-feathers, green and gold, and of all the colours of the 

 rainbow.' The papingo could whistle the tunes to which the gymnastics of 

 that period were performed, changing her measure from ' plat ' or flat ' foot ' 

 to ' foot before,' or from the first to the fourth dancing position. She could 

 sing like the blackbird, crow like a cock, pew like the gled or kite, and chant 

 as the lark, bark like the dog, and cackle as a hen, bleat as the lamb, and 

 bellow as the bull ; she could wail like the gowk or cuckoo, and cry and sob 

 if she was vexed ; besides, 



" She could climb on ane cord, and laugh, and play the fool ; 

 She might have been a minstrel against Yule." 



" The poor papingo escaped into the Park, and was killed by the wild 

 birds. Sir David Lindsay's ' Complaint of the Papingo ' was written in 1529. 

 He took this poetical opportunity of satirizing the abuses of the Regular 

 Canons, the monks, and friars. From the child's play of James V., his 

 parrot and his poet, was the impetus given to the religious revolution of 

 Scotland." 



The two illustrations are taken from ' The Booke of Falconrie of 

 Hauuking ; for the onely delight of all Noblemen and Gentlemen : collected 

 out of the best Authors, as well Italians as Frenchmen, and some English 

 practises withall concerning Falconrie ; Heretofore published by George 

 Tubervile, Gentleman. And now newly revised, corrected, and augmented, 

 with many new Additions proper to these present times. Nocet empta 

 dolore voluptas. At London, printed by Thomas Purfoot, An. Dom. 1611.' 



